Dr. Kazem Sami Kermani was Iran's minister of health in the transitional government of Mehdi Bazargan

Mehdi Bazargan

Mehdi Bazargan was a prominent Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government, making him Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He was the head of the first engineering department of Tehran University...

 and leader of the Iranian Nation Liberation Movement (JAMA), an offshoot of Freedom Movement of Iran

Freedom Movement of Iran

The Freedom Movement of Iran is an Iranian political organization which was founded in 1961 by Mehdi Bazargan, Mahmoud Taleghani, Yadollah Sahabi, Mostafa Chamran, Ali Shariati, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh and some other political or religious figures...

, a liberal religious-nationalist movement affiliated with National Front of Iran.

Political career

Dr. Kazem Sami was one of the leaders and organizers of the Iranian revolution. He served as the minister of health in the Iran's interim government, making him Iran's first minister of health after the Iranian Revolution

Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...

 of 1979. He ran in the first Iranian presidential elections

Iranian presidential election, 1980

The First Iranian presidential election was held on January 25, 1980.It was held one year after Iranian Revolution when the cabinet of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan was resigned and Council of Islamic Revolution was in power. 96 candidates ran in this election.Abulhassan Banisadr was elect as...

, but lost to Abolhassan Banisadr

Abolhassan Banisadr

Abulhassan Banisadr is an Iranian politician, economist and human rights activist who served as the first President of Iran from 4 February 1980 after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the abolition of the monarchy until his impeachment on 21 June 1981 by the Parliament of Iran...

, coming sixth out of the seven presidential candidates. He served as a deputy in the first post-revolutionary Iranian Parliament. After distancing himself from the revolutionary government, Dr Sami remained one of the few active opposition leaders in Iran, openly criticizing the Islamic Republic government. He also wrote a famous open letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, criticizing him for the continuation of the Iran-Iraq war after Iran had recovered her occupied territories, notably the liberation of Khorramshahr

Liberation of Khorramshahr

The Liberation of Khorramshahr was the Iranian recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on May 24, 1982 during the Iran–Iraq War. The Iraqis had captured the city early in the war on October 26, 1980. The successful retaking of the city was part of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas...

.

Murder

Dr. Sami was murdered in his private medical clinic in 1988, under suspicious circumstances. He is believed to be one of the first victims of the "Chain murders

Chain murders of Iran

The Chain Murders of Iran , or Serial Murders, were a series of murders and disappearances from 1988-1998 by Iranian government operatives of Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system in some way.The victims included more than 80 writers, translators,...

", a series of murders and disappearances of Iranian dissident intellectuals in the 1990s.